Guest Commentary

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee bills have enjoyed bipartisan congressional support because our committee understands how essential these projects are to every American and our economic competitiveness as a nation.

Agriculture was the economic engine in rural America in 1933, so the strategy to subsidize rural areas had merit at that time. However, the program has persisted for 85 years because of politics more than economic logic.

Depressed prices, increased costs and rising debt levels are creating economic angst in agriculture. The average age of farmers continues to increase while the next generation faces big economic obstacles to entering the field.

Forbidding employers from asking about criminal convictions until later in the hiring process presents challenges such as slowing the hiring process, a particular difficulty in industries where companies need to put new hires to work fast.

One very small symbolic step toward breaking down our city’s divide was for us to host Center’s graduation. This act of hospitality reflected a way our two organizations could foster an even deeper commitment to a better community.

Missouri tied at third place for the most major flood disasters in the country between 2008 and 2017, requiring nearly $600 million in assistance from the federal government. We need only look back to last year to find significant flooding.

There is no telling how the Trump-Kim summit will go. It is possible that each leader will want to continue riding this wave of diplomatic momentum, and the mood in Seoul is better when the U.S. president is not threatening “fire and fury.”

What is considered an adequate level of funding for schools will always be subjective in nature, because there are so many variables involved. Everyone has a different opinion of how children should receive their education.

March Madness represents an exciting time in basketball when teams play their hearts out on the basketball floor. But for me, my love for the Jayhawks is not simply about supporting a team. It is about supporting what the Jayhawks symbolize

Kansas City’s charter schools have been essential in introducing competition, parent choice and innovation. But the path we’re on is ultimately unsustainable. We need to find a middle path between an all-district and all-charter system.

I am proud that McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita will be the new home of Boeing’s KC-46 Tanker. They will provide improved technology to isolate and evade threats and will ensure the safety of our brave men and women.

Punishing people for being unemployed by taking away their food assistance won’t help them find a better job or find work faster. It will only destabilize families and make it harder for them to get back on their feet.

Under HB 1554, health care providers are specifically liable to their patients for civil actions for damages related to recommending cannabis for the treatment of debilitating medical conditions. Many physicians won’t participate.

In Jefferson City, efforts are underway to weaken protections for teachers, firefighters and others by misrepresenting how unions work. Backers of “paycheck deception” claim they are protecting public employees from their own unions.

The Kansas congressional delegation’s support for general aviation extends beyond Kansas, to their work in Washington, D.C. This couldn’t have been more evident than in the bill the House of Representatives recently passed, funding the FAA.

The driving factor getting the unemployment rate below 4 percent is the recently passed tax cuts, which delivered significant small business tax relief. Small businesses are the nation’s job creators, generating two-thirds of all new jobs.

This big labor demand is overt and unabashed. “There’s no reason this shouldn’t be a 100 percent union job,” a spokesman for the St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters’ Regional Council told a Star reporter in January. “No reason whatsoever.”

As a result of a bizarre Supreme Court ruling, a student has a constitutionally protected right to wear a “Make America Great Again” hat to school — but not to publish a photo of that hat in the paper. We all know that makes no sense.

Through the experience that it has acquired over the years, Mexico’s National Electoral Institute, or INE, has shared best practices and contributed to the design of democratic systems in some African and Caribbean countries.